[Articles] Developments of Textual Understanding and Grammatical Interpretation among Arabic Grammarians and Scholars of Tafsir (Qur'anic Exegesis) in Islam: From the Formation of Legal and Grammatical Schools to al-Zamakhshari (d. 538AH/1144CE)

After the confirmation of the foundational texts of Islam, namely the Holy Qur'an and the Prophetic Traditions (Hadith), which were the two sacred scriptures guiding the Muslim Community (Ummah) in the early centuries, understanding the ordinances contained in these texts has become a common task for the intellectual leaders (the proto-type ʻulama) in various fields. These texts were narrated and written in natural Arabic; therefore, as time passed and new converts from other language groups increased, the authentic linguistic capabilities of the Arabs of the early generations must have been replaced by a systematized, logical knowledge of the language. The earliest commentaries (Tafsir) manifested in the “Athari” methodology, which was based on the narratives of the first-generation “pure” Arabs. Ibn ʻAbbas (d. 68/687) stood high among the Companions of Muhammad. Narratives of his disciples were well recorded in the monumental tafsir of al-Tabari (d. 310/923), who established the Tafsir as a genre of Islamic knowledge. The Shariʻa, Islamic Law, on the other hand, developed in response to the community's need to know the rules it must follow in everyday life. The legal sciences of those who were engaged in extracting these Shari'a rules from the foundational texts were soon to crystallize in ʻIlm al-Fiqh (the knowledge of the mass of legal rules) and ʻIlm Uṣūl al-Fiqh (methodologies of legal interpretation). Both contributed greatly to the “legal” understanding of Arabic texts. Parallel to this, grammarians who were centered either in Kufa or Basra, the earliest Islamic garrison cities in southern Iraq, developed the Arabic grammar. Their arguments and debates were recorded as the rivalry between the Kufa School and the Basra School. However, contemporary researchers have shed doubts on their very existence. After careful examination, this article proposes that these schools should be understood as occupying a position in the history of thought rather than as being confined to specific geographical locations. This paper also reveals the interrelationships among Arabic grammar, Tafsir literature, and the legal sciences, all of which are based on a methodological and logical understanding of the natural language in which the sacred texts were pronounced. In the preceding works, these disciplines were studied separately, so this paper's initiative to open interrelational studies among them should be duly acknowledged. Finally, this paper examines the role of al-Zamakhshari (d. 538/1144), a prominent scholar from Khwarizm, who excelled in Arabic grammar, Balagha (rhetorics), and Tafsir. He was a major grammarian in the Baghdadi school, where the two schools mentioned above were synthesized. Thanks to them, we have a unitary Arabic grammar to this day. Al-Zamakhshari established a Tafsir methodology based on a highly elaborated Arabic grammar. Although he demonstrated theological inclinations toward Muʻtazilite views in this epoch-making tafsir, the Kashshaf, later Sunni tafsir traditions, while omitting his theological narratives, absorbed his grammatical methodology and acknowledged his contribution in this respect.